08 March 2013

News Story: U.S., China Take Part in Pakistan Naval Drills


ISLAMABAD — The United States and China began naval drills in the Arabian Sea with Pakistan and other countries on Thursday, the Pakistani navy said, in a show of strength against terrorism and piracy.

The AMAN-13 exercise involves ships from 13 countries and observers from 20 others and comes two weeks after China took control of a strategic Pakistani Arabian Sea port from Singapore’s PSA International. The five-day exercise, which began earlier this week with meetings and maneuvers in port, will end on Friday and is aimed at “information sharing, mutual understanding and identifying areas of common interest,” the navy said in a statement.

The maneuvers — the fourth since 2007 — will also help develop and practice response tactics, techniques and procedures as well as improving cooperation between navies, the statement said. One of the main objectives is to “display united resolve against terrorism and crimes in maritime domain,” it said.

Read the full story at DefenseNews